Vacancies at Navanti Group

Position Description:

• Navanti is seeking a senior agribusiness specialist who will provide technical support for the evaluation in areas of the agribusiness sector, investment climate, market as well as the political and legal environment of the agricultural sector. Under the technical leadership of the MEL Support Activity, the senior agribusiness specialist will be working alongside three evaluation team members to develop evaluation protocols, design evaluation methodology, generate quality data and develop a high-quality final performance evaluation report.

Locations:

• Benue State
• Cross River State
• Delta State
• Ebonyi State
• Kaduna State
• Kebbi State
• Niger State

Responsibilities:

The senior agribusiness specialist is expected to:

• Coordinate with the team leader and other team members to conduct interviews.
• Conduct desk review of the activity and support agribusiness, agricultural investment, and market systems contextual understanding of the evaluation.
• Work with the evaluation specialist and other team members to design the data collection instruments and ensure it addresses all evaluation objectives.
• Interpret and analyze qualitative and quantitative data.
• Support in preparing reports of research findings.
• Work with the team leader and other team members in planning, developing, coordinating, and administering research tools.
• Perform quality assurance reviews of both quantitative and qualitative data.
• Support the team leader and other team members in writing or editing technical reports and summaries of findings.
• Work with the team leader and other team members to perform desk review and identify additional information required for analysis.
• Work with the Team Leader and other team members in preparation and presentation of the In-brief and Out-brief to USAID/Nigeria and other stakeholders as requested.
• Support the team leader and other team members to develop the draft Evaluation report with support from the team members, taking into consideration feedback from the Out-brief presentation.
• Work with the team leader and other team members to respond to USAID comments on the draft report, incorporate USAID/Nigeria staff comments into the final version of the report and finalize the report.
• Work collaboratively with team members throughout design, implementation, analysis, and report writing to complement each other’s areas of expertise.

Qualifications:

The candidate is expected to have the following qualifications:

• At least a master’s degree or equivalent in Agricultural Economics, Agribusiness, Development Economics, Investment and Finance, Agricultural Finance, Business Administration, Social Sciences, or related fields.
• S/he must have a minimum of seven (7) years of implementing and evaluating programming around strengthening the enabling environment for agricultural development.
• S/he must demonstrate good interpersonal and diplomatic skills as well as strong report writing and analytical skills and excellent oral communication skills in English.
• Excellent ability to communicate in English, both verbally and in writing
• Previous experience as agribusiness specialist on agricultural systems, extension, investments and markets evaluations, assessments, and research studies. USAID evaluation experience strongly preferred.

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Position Description:

• Navanti is seeking an International Team Leader who will be responsible for the overall management of the evaluation, including coordinating deliverables and ensuring a rigorous and high-quality evaluation. The Team leader develops the outline for the draft report, presents the report, and after incorporating USAID/Nigeria staff comments, submits the final report to USAID/Nigeria through Navanti within the prescribed timeline.

Locations:

• Benue State
• Cross River State
• Delta State
• Ebonyi State
• Kaduna State
• Kebbi State
• Niger State

Responsibilities:

Under the technical leadership of the MEL Support Activity, the team leader will be working alongside other team members. The team leader will consult with and facilitate input from all team members throughout the duration of the evaluation. In addition to the position description, the Team Leader will:

Preparations

• Finalize and negotiate with USAID/Nigeria the team’s work plan.
• Establish assignment roles, responsibilities, and tasks for each team member.
• Ensure that the logistics arrangements in the field are complete.

Management

• Take the lead on preparing, coordinating team member input, submitting, revising, and finalizing the assignment report.
• Manage the process of report writing.
• Manage team coordination meetings in the field.
• Coordinate the workflow and tasks and ensure that team members are adhering to the schedule.

Communication

• Ensure harmony within the team.
• Serve as the primary interface with USAID/Nigeria and serve as the spokesperson for the team.
• Debrief USAID/Nigeria as the evaluation progresses and organize a final debriefing.
• Keep USAID/Nigeria apprised of progress challenges, work changes, team travel plans in the field, and report preparation via phone conversation or email at least once a week.
• Serve as the primary interface with USAID/Nigeria for the submission of draft and final reports, and deliverables to USAID/Nigeria.
• Make decisions in conjunction with USAID/Nigeria about the safety and security of the team.

Direction

• Assume technical direction lead, as required, in order to ensure quality and appropriateness of assignment and report content.

Qualifications:

The candidate is expected to have the following qualifications:

• A graduate degree in Development Economics, Public Policy, Economics, Business Administration, Agriculture, or a related field.
• At least ten years of experience assessing or evaluating USAID and other donor-supported agricultural policy, finance and investment, and agricultural value chain activities.
• Previous experience serving as an evaluation Team Leader on a USAID-supported agriculture-related and/or access to finance activity.
• Previous experience working in Africa.
• Experience facilitating and providing leadership in collaborative and participatory evaluations with multiple stakeholders.
• Excellent writing, communication, and presentation skills.
• The ability to produce preliminary and final reports on time.

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Performance Evaluation Objectives

• USAID/Nigeria has engaged the MEL Support Activity to conduct a final performance evaluation of the Feed the Future Nigeria Agribusiness Investment Activity. The primary purpose of this final performance evaluation is to determine whether the assistance provided by USAID/Nigeria through the Nigeria Agribusiness Investment Activity achieved the stated development objectives and to understand the lessons learned from this Activity in Nigeria.

The Evaluation Should

It is intended to provide an independent examination of the overall progress and accomplishments of the Nigeria Agribusiness Investment Activity.

• provide a detailed picture of the major accomplishments and weaknesses of the Activity since its inception and determine how its successes can be sustained.
• provide data on outcomes and achievements.
• elucidate the lessons learned and include specific recommendations to USAID/Nigeria about how the Activity achievements and successes can be sustained and
• highlight how interventions that produced those achievements and successes can be adopted and scaled by other FTF activities, partners, private sector firms, or by the Government of Nigeria (GON).

The estimated start date will be August 28, 2023. The evaluation is expected to last until February 2024, and the estimated LOE will be 45 days, maximum.

Candidates are advised to submit applications early.

Position Description

Navanti is seeking a n agriculture economist who will provide technical support for the evaluation in areas of economic activity within agricultural markets. Work with other team members on relevant research data pertaining to the agricultural industry and project analyze patterns and trends based on data collected. Under the technical leadership of the MEL Support Activity, The agriculture economist will be working alongside three evaluation team members to develop evaluation protocols, design evaluation methodology, generate quality data and develop a high quality final performance evaluation report.

Locations:

• Benue State
• Cross River State
• Delta State
• Ebonyi State
• Kaduna State
• Kebbi State
• Niger State

Responsibilities

The agriculture economist is expected to:

• Coordinate with the team leader and other team members to conduct interviews.
• Conduct comprehensive desk review of the activity and support analysis on agricultural technology, consumer trends, and environmental concerns related to farming practices.
• Work with the evaluation specialist and other team members to design the data collection instruments and ensure it addresses all evaluation objectives.
• Interpret and analyze qualitative and quantitative data in relation to identifying problems/success with agricultural markets as it relates to this activity evaluation.
• Support in preparing reports of research findings.
• Work with the team leader and other team members in planning, developing, coordinating, and administering research tools.
• Perform quality assurance reviews of both quantitative and qualitative data.
• Support the team leader and other team members in writing or editing technical reports and summaries of findings.
• Work with the team leader and other team members to perform desk review and identify additional information required for analysis.
• Work with the Team Leader and other team members in preparation and presentation of the In-brief and Out-brief to USAID/Nigeria and other stakeholders as requested.
• Support the team leader and other team members to develop the draft Evaluation report with support from the team members, taking into consideration feedback from the Out-brief presentation.
• Work with the team leader and other team members to respond to USAID comments on the draft report, incorporate USAID/Nigeria staff comments into the final version of the report and finalize the report.
• Work collaboratively with team members throughout design, implementation, analysis, and report writing to complement each other’s areas of expertise.

Qualifications

The candidate is expected to have the following qualifications :

• Possess technical competence in the field of Agriculture, Agricultural Policy, Agribusiness and Agriculture value chains, Economics, or related fields.
• S/he must have a minimum of eight (8) years conducting economic assessments and studies in the agriculture sector and must have strong report writing and analytical skills.
• S/he must demonstrate strong knowledge of the Nigerian agricultural policy and agricultural finance environment.
• S/he must possess qualitative and qualitative data analysis skills.
• Excellent ability to communicate in English, both verbally and in writing

Deadline: Not Stated

How to Apply: Use the links below to apply: